The Truth
by Redzik
Summary: Jason decided to investigate what happened to make Dick behave the way he does now. Rated T for swearing. Pre-slash. What if AU.


One day I thought 'Oh, hey, what if Bruce did that?' and I started writing, intending it to be a short scene. Somehow it turned into this.

All mistakes are my own.  
I don't own characters, buu :(

* * *

Jason didn't know how it happened. No, not how. The how was pretty obvious. The why it happened? That was the real mystery.

One minute they were going through the plan, the next he was stepping between Dick and Bruce, afraid that his older brother might do something stupid. Like starting a fight and putting them both out of commission when the situation demanded all hands on deck.

It started shortly after Dick returned from his mission in Spyral and stopped playing dead. The older man didn't stop at anything to earn his siblings forgiveness. To the point, that they forgave him just to get him to stop bothering them so much. But… while Dick did indeed stop pestering them all the time, he started showing up on patrol to accompany whoever was paired with Batman at the time.

Of course they thought nothing of it. Dick was his usual needy self. And his spy game took him from his family for a long time, so of course he wanted to be around them. Bruce especially.

Jason had scoffed at it. As always Dick was at the beck and call of the Bat. It was the reason Dick agreed to take this stupid mission and fake his death in the first place.

But he spent nights with the older man shaking and clinging to him desperately not believing he was really there and finally home. Sometimes it got so bad he had to drug Dick so they both could get any sleep. Tim and Damian claimed to get the same treatment, but with much less of a freak out. Which made sense, Dick wouldn't want to worry the kids. After one of such nights Jason broke into the Batcave and stole the files about Dick's time in Spyral. Dick was unusually messed up about this whole ordeal and Jason wanted to know why.

He listened through the messages. The lost and miserable plea 'Can I come home?' in Dick's voice caused his heart to clench in sympathy. It provided an insight on how lonely Dick really was during that time with Spyral, but it didn't completely explain everything.

Jason didn't spend much time with his family when Bruce was present, so it took Cass pointing it to him to get him to pay attention.

It was a rare occasion where Cass and Stephanie both were in Gotham for a few days, so the family decided to celebrate with playing tag on the rooftops. Red Hood was content to just watch from the sidelines for the time being and soon Batgirl joined him.

"No," she shook her head after his offhand comment about being surprised that Dick was with them rather than joined at the hip with Bruce. "Angry."

"What?" Jason asked. "B?"

"Nightwing," she replied.

"Then why the hell he spends all the time with B?" Red Hood questioned. He wasn't too much surprised, that Bruce and Dick were fighting. It was constant thing when he was growing up at the manor.

"He protects," Cassandra answered.

"It doesn't make any sense," Jason groused.

"You find out," Batgirl looked at him, practically commanding him to do so.

"Yeah," Red Hood looked at the blue and black clad figure happily dancing away from Robin trying to tag him. "I will."

After his enlightening talk with Cassandra, Jason made an effort to regularly patrol with his family. He noticed, that indeed Dick was only speaking to Bruce when it was absolutely necessary. Not a thing anyone paid attention to, what with Nightwing chattering almost constantly in general. And always, _always_ Dick placed himself between Batman and the rest of his siblings. No matter with whom Bruce patrolled, Nightwing was there acting as an impenetrable wall between them. Jason even requested a patrol with the Bat just to see what would happen. That was very informative.

Now, that Jason knew to look, he saw that Dick was tense all the time. Ready to defend every time it even seemed like Bruce was going to try get some closer interaction with Jason. Dick was furious at the man and Jason was dying to know why. Batman was brooding over this constant hovering, but didn't stop it from happening which was a curious thing too.

With all the information he gathered, Jason still didn't have the whole picture.

He kinda understood when Dick demanded of Batman to change the plan, given how protective Nightwing was lately. Yeah, it was risky but they all faced worse odds than this. They would be fine.

"It's going to be fine, Dick," Batman said. "Trust me."

Dick exploded. Thankfully the brats went to gather the equipment they would need so they didn't have to witness it. It was probably the reason Dick just let go.

"Trust you?!" he demanded, enraged. "I don't trust you with _my_ life! What makes you think I will trust you with theirs?!"

Jason was completely floored. Where did _that_ came from?

Bruce reared back momentary, but he composed himself quickly.

"You can't still be mad about that," he deadpanned dismissively.

Oh, if looks could kill. Jason quickly grabbed Dick by the shoulders and pushed him back a few steps. Nightwing went pliant in his hands as if he forgotten Red Hood was even there and now tried to make up for his outburst acting all relaxed as if nothing happened at all. Or it was just that Dick soaked up all the touch he could get from everyone he was even vaguely familiar with. Or mix of both.

Jason just wanted to know what was going on and kill something.

He saw the brats coming back and quickly flipped his positions with Dick, patting him on the head, acting put upon as if the Red Hood had to be dragged away from Batman rather than Nightwing. That case wasn't anything new and just earned an eye roll from the kids. Dick squeezed him gratefully.

"So, new plan," Red Hood said, practically daring Bruce to disagree. "Robin will come with me. Nightwing will take Red Robin. It will take a little longer, but will be more," well, he couldn't say 'safer' because it would raise too much questions, "practical."

"I agree," Robin concurred almost immediately, practically vibrating with anticipation.

Jason was surprised to find out the mini Bat liked to work with him. He was even more surprised that he liked to work with the kid too. Both had training from League of Assassins and they weren't afraid to get more brutal than was strictly necessary. It was freeing for the both of them. Bruce disapproved of course, but Dick just was happy they were bonding as far as they didn't kill anyone.

The Batcave had another break in that night. This time Jason gathered anything he could before Dick was announced dead. That was the whole Crime Syndicate and Dick's unmasking fiasco. It seemed like a good place to start, so he copied the files and went to his safe house. And trashed it in a fit of rage when he saw the details of the events no one bothered to tell him about. The feeds were from security cameras, cowl camera, Nightwing mask's camera, hell even Luthor apparently had one on him. So Jason had the pleasure of watching Dick's murder from all the angles. Red Hood stayed in for three days, waiting for the green haze to leave his vision. It didn't make him fell less murderous, but by the fourth day he was fairly sure he could stop himself from just shooting the bastard on sight.

Eventually hunger drove him out of his self imposed exile. He showered quickly and threw on some mostly clean clothes. He looked around the destroyed place and decided to ditch it once he got something to bite. Jason grabbed his keys and wallet and threw the front door open.

Dick was on the other side hand raised to knock.

"Oh, hey, Jason," the older man smiled brightly. "I haven't see you in a while so I just wanted to check- ohmf."

Jason pulled him in hard and closed his arms around him tightly. He ran his hands along Dick's back, basking in the warmth of his body, confirming he was alive and real. Jason buried his face in Dick's neck, feeling the strong and steady pulse. He shuddered.

"It's alright, Little Wing," Dick soothed, running his hand through Jason's hair. "Everything's fine. I'm here and _nothing will hurt you_."

Jason snorted. He should be the one reassuring Dick, not the other way around.

"I promise," Dick pulled away slightly, just enough to make Jason look into his eyes burning with fierce need to protect. "I will not let anything happen to you."

God, Jason felt so useless. He was the one who should comfort Dick. Make him feel safe. But Dick's mother henning was legendary and any effort Jason would make he felt like it wouldn't even compare. So he just nodded.

"Stay with me?" he requested. At least he could keep an eye on Grayson for the time being.

"Of course," Dick agreed without any hesitation like Jason knew he would. Dick pulled Jason down and kissed his temple, giving him one last squeeze before releasing him. "You were going somewhere?"

"Just to get some food," Jason explained.

"Great!" Dick bounced on his toes. "I could eat."

Jason rolled his eyes.

They went to the nearest store and got something to drink and to make a couple of sandwiches with. Jason was actually embarrassed when they got back and Dick took a closer look at the carnage that was his living room. Grayson made a sad sound and hugged his little brother again.

"You should call someone, not go through that alone," he scolded gently.

"Believe me, it was safer for everyone," Jason shrugged him off.

"Well, you can't stay here," Dick decided. "We're going to my apartment."

"I was thinking about my other safe house, but sure, if you want."

"I want," Dick said, moving to the laptop on the table, which barely survived the destruction. "Go pack your things."

Too late Jason remembered what was on the screen. Dick glanced at it before shutting the lid and froze, pale and wide eyed. Quickly, Jason crossed the distance between them and slammed the laptop shut.

"Dick..." he started. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? He gathered his older brother into his arms and held on tight.

Dick was completely still, breathing carefully which told Jason he was fighting to calm down.

Red Hood mentally scolded himself as the silence dragged on. He should finally say something.

"Just say a word and I'll kill the bastard," just not that!

Dick laughed, happy and a bit amused. He stood on his tiptoes, smacked a wet kiss on Jason's forehead; Dick really should stop doing that, because Jason won't be able to stop himself from kissing him for real; and threw his arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Little Wing."

Jason preened. He made Dick feel better. Maybe he wasn't as bad at this comfort thing as he thought.

Eventually they moved. Jason went to pack his things while Dick waited for him patiently. They rode to Dick's apartment separately, each on their own bike. Jason kept his eyes on his older brother as he followed him through the traffic.

While he discovered a huge chunk of the mystery of why Dick was behaving like he was, he still was missing something. Sure, Dick could be mad at Bruce for his death and then taking advantage of it to sent him to Spyral, but the amount of hostility, the distrust and obsessive protecting of them from Batman wasn't entirely warranted by this event. If anything, Dick probably would have already forgiven Bruce for that. So there had to be something else.

Jason sighed in frustration. He'll need to break into the 'Cave again. But maybe in a few days. For now he'll just bask in Dick's doting on him.

And bask he did. Dick was delighted to have him over. He gathered all the junk food he had on the table before TV and forced a cuddle fest while they watched movies all day long and well into the night. They both missed patrol, but couldn't be bothered to care. Well Jason didn't care. He was just too content and warm to move as he watched some mindless action happening in the movie. Dick was too worn out to do anything besides giving a token protest before Jason tugged him firmly into his side after he promised to sic Roy on Batman.

The final piece of mystery was practically handed to Jason on a silver plate. He still didn't know if it was a lucky coincidence or Dick wanted him to know.

He was staying with Dick for almost a week now and he didn't think he would be moving out anytime soon if Dick's easy acceptance and nagging to bring more of his stuff to the apartment was any indication. Yeah, no. Dick won't let him move out ever after the last night.

Tim and Damian came over and Dick was ecstatic. Another round of movie night, food coma and cuddles commenced. The brats were out, sprawled on the floor in the pile of pillows and blankets Dick mysteriously produced from thin air. Seriously, Jason investigated the entire apartment and didn't see them anywhere before. Jason was the only one awake when a shadow fell over the window. Oh, goody, daddy came to find his missing birds. Dick tensed under his arm, most definitely awake now. Yeah, no. It was Dick's home, a place where he felt safe and right now Bruce wasn't welcome. Jason reached for the gun he stashed under the couch cushions and aimed it at the Bat.

"Fuck off," he growled quiet enough as to not wake the kids but still be heard by the black figure outside.

Batman stared stubbornly into the room for long enough, that Jason was about to get up and physically throw him off from the ledge. Just as he was ready to move the Bat vanished. Jason sighed and tucked the gun back in it's hiding place.

"He's gone," he murmured, pulling Dick closer.

The older man let out a contended hum, relaxing into Jason. He didn't even comment on the gun.

So here Jason was, in a room Dick used for his Nightwing stuff, going through Bruce's personal entries. It was the middle of the night, he couldn't sleep and Dick was dead to the world so he decided to get some work done. He went to get some files for the case and the computer was just sitting there, running some tests in the background with a video open and ready for viewing. It looked like Dick just abandoned the work in the middle of it, but why would he watch videos of Bruce? Curiously, Jason hit play. Well, there were things, he didn't want to know about his father figure, ever, and he was ready to get back to his case, when video Bruce mentioned Spyral. All invested now, Jason clicked on the next video and the next and a few more. And his world crumbled.

" _… I had at least two ways of getting Dick out of that machine, but Lex Luthor gave me a perfect opportunity. I needed someone to infiltrate Spyral. Someone who was dead for the world. Luthor saved me from having to fake his death. I knew he would bring Dick and that Dick could deal with that. No damage has been done. Dick was dead for less than a minute, not anything different from how any of us flatlined before. I just needed to make sure nobody knew he survived..._ "

Jason went cold. The rest of the video just a background noise in the rush of blood in his head. Jesus Christ. It was their father. A person who was supposed to protect them from any harm. Granted, with a low degree of success, what with the entire line of child soldiers, but still. This. This was something else entirely. Jason knew that for Bruce his Mission of protecting Gotham came first. But he also knew that Grayson was the favorite, the one Bruce would make an exception for. So just hearing that was earth shattering. God. How Dick felt when he heard that? Jason couldn't imagine. The man would do everything for Bruce. Was with him the longest, knew him best. No wonder Dick didn't trust him anymore, was so pissed at the Bat and unwilling to leave anybody else alone with him.

A slight rustle had Jason whipping around defensively.

Dick was standing in the doorway, not surprised to see him in the room and going through the files. So he left them deliberately for Jason to find. Wanted him to know. Trusted him to know.

"Dick..." Jason got up and crowded into Dick's space.

Dick lifted his head to look at him, eyes wet and red rimmed.

"He let me die," he said in a voice reminiscent of the one he pleaded for permission to come home in his Spyral days, but more broken.

And fuck, what Jason was supposed to say to that? He couldn't deny that and agreeing would be unnecessary cruel. He lifted his hand and tangled his fingers in Dick''s hair on the back of his head and guided it to rest under his chin. Dick followed the motion with his entire body, curling into Jason, looking small and fragile.

The big bad Red Hood murmured soft nothings while his shirt got steadily wetter with Dick's tears. Finally he got tired of standing and gathered his older brother into a bridal carry and relocated them to bed. He wrapped himself around Dick protectively and continued to sooth him.

He wanted to just get up, storm into the manor and murder Bruce. But it wouldn't really solve anything. No matter how angry Jason can get at Bruce he feared he ultimately wouldn't pull the trigger. Besides Dick wouldn't want Jason to live with the fact he killed their father figure. No matter how badly the Bat fucked up.

Confrontation wasn't an option then. That was fine. Jason will take Dick somewhere far away from Gotham, so the man could get some time to come to terms with their new reality. Grayson probably threw himself into protecting everyone right after he learned the truth, not leaving himself the time to rest let alone deal with the revelation. A time away would do him good.

The problem was, Dick wouldn't leave Tim and Damian without protection. Jason will have to call Cassandra. He already promised he would if he found anything. She will take care of the kids while they were away. Jason will also notify Roy, so he could provide backup if something happened.

Satisfied with his plan, he buried his face in Dick's hair and let his steady breathing lull him to sleep.


End file.
